Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake
November 8, 2008 by Marye Audet
Filed under Cakes
Ethan’s 15th birthday is Monday. His birthday is the 29th anniversary of Marc and my first date, too. 
Anyway, we celebrated it last night with friends and family. He had three of his closest friends spend the night. Of course one of the little brothers (of two of the friends) is best friends with Sean and Nick…so he stayed too…and then Kyrie and the grandkids, Amanda and Gabe, begged to have a sleep-over…
That is how I ended up with 12 kids in my house this morning.
Twelve. The three littles are in the back room watching cartoons. The big ones are in the den playing video games (one of the friends was nice enough to bring his game system ) and the medium sized ones are here in th office on one of the other computers. Eventually they will all go home and we will be back to controlled chaos.
All of the kids that are here (with the exception of the grands) are from big families of 6 or more kids and are homeschooled. I am always amazed at how well they all get along and interact. There is no yelling at the littler ones, or complaining…they are letting everyone play..and it is peaceful, albeit a little loud. Did I mention the numerous guitars? Shiloh made breakfast this morning (I think one of the boys has a thing for her..who coud blame him? and asked her if she was cooking breakfast..so she made pancakes and apparently this one boy at 15 of them.)
With that many kids and then the adults that were here I decided to make two cakes instead of one. They were the same base but I used french silk in place of the peanut butter mousse on one of them..I will post pictures of that one later..
The cake is good. Moist, rich, chocolate….topped with a rich peanut butter mousse and then a thick ganache glaze it was almost too much. Even Marc could not eat more than one piece..although the piece was quite large.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake
12 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Sharffen Berger Cocoa
- 2 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- Peanut Butter Mousse (recipe follows)
- Chocolate Ganache Glaze (recipe follows
Directions:
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan
- Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
- Melt butter. Stir in chocolate until smooth and melted.
- Add eggs, milk,chocolate mixture, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
- Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.
- Cover with the peanut butter mousse. Chill
- Cover with a smooth layer of the ganache. Refrigerate about 4 hours before serving.
Peanut Butter Mousse
- 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Beat the peanut butter and cream cheese together until blended.
- Add sugar slowly, beating well until all the sugar is incorporated.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating about 3 minutes after each addition.
- Add vanilla
- Spread on cooled cake in a thick layer.
Ganache
- 1 cup cream
- 12 ozs bittersweet chocolat, chopped
Bring cream just to a boil. Stir in chocolate until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter while still warm smoothing it as you go.
In retrospect, even though this is a very rich cake, I think I would give this a layer of caramel syrup between the cake and the peanut butter…just to see what that would be like…Chopped peanut butter cups on the top would be great as well.
Images: marye audet
mmmm, looks like something my dh would love. he loves peanut butter….
Oh this is so unfair. That looks amazing! I bet the kids loved it (all 12!!! of them).
I love it when I can fill my house with the happiness of family and chocolate cake baking
Love the rich look of this cake!!
That looks freakin good. I’m going to ask my wife to make that for me.
Marye,
This is one of the most delicious recipes I have ever come across – you have any leftovers, or is the cake gone?! I would love to come over…
Th fork shot makes me want to dig right in. I remember the sleep over days very well:D
Monica- it is pretty easy..JIM could make it.
Caitlin…LOL! I think they liked the french silk better..there is only a strip of that left..
Tanna- bread is the only thing that smells better than chocolate cake baking to me.
TMH- you should make it…I just taught you how
Ivory- there is some left..come on over
Valli- you come over too..
That. Looks. Delicious. I’ve been on a chocolate and peanut butter kick lately… that may need to appear in the kitchen shortly.
That peanut butter mousse layer looks impossibly enticing – how did you ever keep from devouring it all before it made it to the cake??
OMG Marye, it looks amazing!
Milly- you should do it! This was great.
Kathy- I made alot and it was way to rich to do much more than lick from fingers! It tastes a bit like peanut butter cheesecake.
Cathy- thanks!
What an amazing recipe! It looks sinful!
It is! You have to hit the altar and repent the next day.
those photos are irresistible. i can’t to make this-i’ve just gotta find an excuse to whip it up!
I don’t care for chocolate or peanut butter on its own but together they become something magical! Your photos look terrific. I’d love to try a bite!
I know what it’s like to have a house. I have a set of twins (boys) and a singleton (girl) AND then two or three or four of their friends almost every weekend. The good thing is because everyone lives in the neighborhood (except one boy) I can send most of them home. Of course they are just back the next morning. LOL! I love it!
~ingrid
This looks fantastic, but raw eggs in the peanut butter mousse layer? Have you tried without or substituting something less likely to cause illness?
merdy- we have our own chickens so we have our own eggs. If you use organic free range eggs there is much less chance of food born illness…Even so, the actual incidence of salmonella from raw egg, despite the hype, is estimated at one in 10,000 eggs. Maybe. And most people would not necessarily know they have it unless they are under hte age of 4, elderly, or frail as in AIDS, Cancer, etc. For me, the chemicals and additives in fake foods are far scarier, homogenation…ultra-pasterization…fake sugar…fake fats…
You could try leaving it out if it bothers you, or use another type of egg product. I don;t knowl…I guess I live on the edge…I use homemade mayo and drink raw goat’s milk too.
ingrid- I thought I responded to you???
I am not a big peanut butter fan without the chocolate either..
Marge,I am looking for the moistest choc. cake ever,do you have any suggestions?Thanks so much bev
Marye,I am embarrassed i wrote your wrong name,i am new to this site and just love it, please forgive me .I am looking for a really moist chocolate cake that is dense and really flavorful,any ideas.Thank-you so much,bev
Bev- no problem! You aren’t the first to make that mistake! Check this cake out..it is very moist and chocolate-y. http://www.blisstree.com/bakingdelights/bittersweet-chocolate-cake-with-orange-curd-and-ganache/
OMG; my heart is palpitating and I feel kinda dizzy. Is it normal to have that sort of response to looking at a picture of a cake?
I don’t even know how I got here. I mean, I don’t generally surf recipe websites – I barely cook at all, let alone bake. But I’ve been dreaming about cakes for almost a week. Gorgeous moist, sometimes colourful, or delicate and always incredibly rich looking cakes… and then I wake up and they’re gone!
So I get up to start work this morning, and instead of working I find myself searching for pictures of cakes!!
I think I’m going to have to try and make this cake. I’ll report back…
LOL Carlee, let me know if you like the real thing as much as the food porn.
Do not know how I missed this post but this is getting made tomorrow morning! Have mum coming over and she loves choclate and peanut butter. Plus I am making a quiche of vidla onions and fingerling potatos also. With my homemade cheese. Mom will love it. Worth getting the insulin out for an extra dose.
LOL!
Well I am glad you found it..the quiche sounds amazing!